CollectingBooks
I am an avid reader of Science Fiction and Fantasy. Sometimes I get bitten by the collector's bug, hence this page which lists collections that I own, or that have appeared on my radar.
For a "Want list" of single books, see this page.
Vance Integral Edition (VIE)
About the edition
From the project website:
The Vance Integral Edition project published a complete, corrected and archival quality edition of Vance's work, under the aegis of the author himself.
Availability and pricing
The VIE is a limited edition, and subscription/printing has stopped. A copy of the VIE is therefore available only via collectors' or second-hand markets.
It appears that current prices for an original VIE edition are close to USD 6000 (cf. this source).
Alternate editions
Edition Andreas Irle
The "Edition Andreas Irle" is making individual VIE volumes available as soft-cover reprints, via Print on Demand.
Compact Vance Integral Edition (CVIE)
The "Compact Vance Integral Edition" is a new edition based on the VIE texts, published by Afton House Books. As of December 9, 2009, subscription seems to be still open, with a current price of USD 1295 plus shipping for all 6 volumes.
References
Tolkien
Goal
I would like to have hardcover/deluxe editions both in German and English, for the following works by Tolkien:
- The Hobbit
- The Lord of the Rings
- The Silmarillion
- Unfinished Tales
In addition I would like to add a number of books about Tolkien and his works to flesh out my collection. At the moment, bibliographic references are most important to me so that I can continue my work on Tolkien at the ISFDB.
Status
I am missing an English hardcover/deluxe edition of "The Hobbit".
I am also looking for a copy of "J. R. R. Tolkien: A Descriptive Bibliography" by Wayne G. Hammond (published 1993).
Bibliothek der SF-Literatur
Status
As of November 2009, I own a complete collection.
About the series
The name of this book series could be translated as "The Library of SF literature". It is a series of Science Fiction books published by German publisher Heyne during the 1980's. The stated intent was to publish (loose translation) "outstanding works from the Science Fiction literature genre", works which are milestones of the genre.
All volumes appeared as paperbacks with a nice and clean cover design. The design's predominant color is white, which in my opinion is very fitting for Science Fiction books, as it brings the image of a clean scientist's laboratory to my inner eye - the association of this particular image with SF probably reveals me as old-fashioned :-)
Publication notes
The series was originally intended to consist of exactly 100 volumes, numbered from 1 to 100. The actual publication, though, has a few notable exceptions:
- Volume 88 was never published. Planned for this volume was Elleander Morning by Jerry Yulsman.
- Volume 101 was published, exceeding the original limit of 100. The explanation is this: The twelve volumes from 90 to 101 consist of James E. Gunn's anthology series The Road to Science Fiction. Each book in the original volume is split into several volumes:
- From Gilgamesh to Wells: 2 volumes (90, 91)
- From Wells to Heinlein: 2 volumes (92, 93)
- From Heinlein to Here: 3 volumes (94, 95, 96)
- From Here to Forever: 3 volumes (97, 98, 99)
- The British Way: 2 volumes (100, 101)
- Volumes 102 and 103 were never published. Planned for these volumes was the final book of Gunn's anthology series, Around the World. Projected titles were
- Volume 102: "Von Verne bis Calvino"
- Volume 103: "Von Capek bis Garcia Marques"
- Volumes 104 and 105 were published, again exceeding the original limit of 100
References
- Publication series at the ISFDB
- http://fictionfantasy.de/heyne-bibliothek-der-sf-literatur
- Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Welten der Zukunft
Status
As of November 2009, I own a complete collection.
About the series
The name of this book series could be translated as "Worlds of the Future". It is a series of Science Fiction omnibuses published by German publisher Heyne during the 1980's. Each of the twelve volumes consists of three novels by separate authors.
My SF reading taste has been heavily influenced by the books in this series. I remember that I was especially intrigued by Maske: Thaery (my love of Jack Vance's work continues today), but also by several of Robert Silverberg's works (e.g. Tower of Glass) and, of course, by Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. These days I am quite disenchanted with Heinlein, though: I was not pleased by Expanded Universe, and having learned more about his political views has not helped, either.
Publication notes
The series was titled "Chroniken der Zukunft" for the first three volumes, for the remaining nine volumes the series title changed to "Welten der Zukunft".
References
- Publication series at the ISFDB
- http://www.fictionfantasy.de/chroniken-der-zukunft
- Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Road to Science Fiction
Status
As of late 2014, I own a complete collection.
About the series
The Road to Science Fiction is an anthology series by James E. Gunn.
I believe this series is a worthy addition to any collection of SF books because it provides an overview of how the genre developed over time, and also, of course, because the author and title selection is quite representative.
Thieves' World
Status
I own most of the books in German, but I would prefer to have an English edition.
About the series
TODO
Publication notes
| Title | ISBN |
|---|---|
| Thieves' World | 0-441-80584-1 |
| Tales from the Vulgar Unicorn | 0-441-79579-X |
| Shadows of Sanctuary | 0-441-76027-9 |
| Storm Season | 0-441-78712-6 |
| The Face of Chaos | 0-441-22549-7 |
| Wings of Omen | 0-441-80593-0 |
| The Dead of Winter | 0-441-14089-0 |
| Soul of the City | 0-441-77581-0 |
| Blood Ties | 0-441-80598-1 |
| Aftermath | 0-441-80597-3 |
| Uneasy Alliances | 0-441-80610-4 |
| Stealers' Sky | 0-441-80612-0 |
Spellsinger
Status
I own most of the books in German, but I would prefer to have an English edition.
About the series
TODO
Publication notes
"Spellsinger's Scherzo is an omnibus of volumes 4-6.
Commander Perkins
Status
I own a complete collection.
About the series
The series consists of 9 young-adult SF novels that were published by German publisher Franz Schneider Verlag during the late 1970's / early 1980's.
Even from today's perspective as older self I would say that the books are really worth reading for a YA audience. Maybe I'm purely nostalgic, but I hugely enjoyed skimming over the books when I recently rediscovered them in the attic.
Publication notes
Even though the copyright page at the end of the 9th volume announces that another volume is in preparation, the series was cancelled for unknown reasons. Many plot lines were left unfinished, especially the threat of the mysterious cosmic power named "The Middle Eye" (Das Mittlere Auge).
References
Mark Brandis
Status
I own none of the books.
About the series
The series consists of 31 young-adult SF novels that were published from 1970 to 1987 by German publisher Herder.
I don't own any of the books because when I was young I used to lend them from public libraries. I fondly remember the Mark Brandis books because they had a "different" approach: No far-flung space opera, instead stuff happened in our own "backwater" solar system. The technological side was more in the background, often the plot was more concerned with humans, which made the stories very believable (at least I remember them as such).
Publication notes
The books are currently being re-published in paperback form by German publisher Wurdack. By the end of 2009 volume 11 has been printed.
References
Space Opera Collection
Status
I currently own 9 out of 10 books from the collection.
About the series
The "Space Opera Collection" is a short 10 volume series published by Gollancz. The distinguishing feature of the collection is the black and white, rather minimal cover art. When I realized that the size of the series is quite limited and that I had offhandedly bought 6 out of the 10 volumes, I decided to finish the job and get the remaining 4 volumes while they are still available on Amazon (even though 3 of those 4 books already sit on my bookshelf).
References
Alfred Bester
Goal
As a kid some of my personal heroes were the journalists that wrote computer game reviews in the German home computer magazine Happy Computer, and later in Power Play. In one magazine issue every one of those guys compiled a list of his (no her!) favourite science fiction books, and since they were my heroes obviously all those books immediately made the top of my must-have list. The three books that I still remember to be on that list were Isaac Asimov's "Foundation Trilogy", the Larry Niven / David Gerrold collaboration "The Flying Sorcerers" - and Alfred Bester's "Tiger! Tiger!". A decade or so later, when I finally had "Tiger! Tiger!" in my hands, I utterly devoured it but then was starved for more, because Bester hadn't written a lot and thus was not greatly published in German.
After I switched my reading to English, of course I had to buy "Tiger! Tiger!" in the original, and was no less enthusiastic about it. I then went on to read "The Demolished Man", and later stumbled upon the dazzling collection Star Light, Star Bright. Recently (relatively speaking) I acquired The Light Fantastic, which is the other half (actually volume 1) of the collection. On that occasion I decided that I wanted to own a complete set of Bester's genre work - and that still is my goal.
Status
Currently I am missing 3 novels and 15 short stories. 12 of the short stories appeared only in magazines, so they are almost impossible for me to get.
Novels
I'm missing the following novels
Short stories
The following table lists all of Bester's short fiction that I know of, in which collections the stories appear, and whether I already have a story or not. I'm not keen on collecting Bester's non-fiction, so the table lists non-fiction titles (essays and interviews) only if they happen to be part of a collection that I already own; the idea is to give an impression of the overlap between collections, where it occurs. The information source is, of course, ISFDB.
References
- Alfred Bester bibliography at the ISFDB
Mac Kinsey
Status
As of April 2016, I own a complete collection.
About the magazine
This is a magazine that issued "horror novellas" - or "Gruselromane" in German - with a protagonist called Mac Kinsey. The magazine series ran between 1983 and 1984 and was abruptly cancelled after 16 issues. As a teenager I read many of these cheap and often cheesy magazines (two of the more famous ones probably are John Sinclair and Perry Rhodan), but usually they were long-running series and I would start to read them only after many issues had already appeared and the characters were already well established. Not so with Mac Kinsey - this one I discovered at the newsstand when issue 1 appeared, and I was pleased that this time I was with a magazine from the very beginning. Of course I was disappointed when Mac Kinsey was suddenly cancelled, but then I realized that I was the proud owner of a complete and exclusive collection - never mind that the exclusivity came from obscurity ☺.
Of course, at some point the 16 magazine issues had to go up to the attic, but they were not forgotten. A few years later, when I wanted to look at them again, I was dismayed to find that my precious collection had disappeared - either it had been spirited away to an alternate dimension, or "someone" must have discarded it. I had a pretty strong suspicion which of the two options it was, but there are more important things in life, so I let it go. But again, Mac Kinsey was not forgotten, and over the decades I sometimes had to think back to what a shame it was to have lost those magazines through no fault of mine. So in April 2016, when I discovered a complete collection of those 16 issues being offered on eBay, nostalgia overwhelmed me and now things are back the way they are supposed to be ☺.
References
- www.gruselromane.de/mackinsey/